SANTA ANA - A federal grand jury has indicted former GOP Congress candidate Tan Nguyen over a controversial 2006 mailer sent to Latino voters that warned immigrants against voting.

The letter, sent out in the waning days of Nguyen's congressional campaign against Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, was written in Spanish and triggered national headlines with many observers seeing it as the direct result of a long string of GOP candidates' increasingly using anti-illegal immigration sentiment to get elected.

While former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer declined to prosecute Nguyen over allegations of voter intimidation, federal officials took aim at Nguyen, alleging he impeded their investigation.

The indictment alleges that Nguyen made misleading statements to state investigators and also accuses him of actions designed to keep information away from federal investigators.

Nguyen is expected to be arraigned in federal court Oct. 14.

Federal officials did not respond to requests for comment.

James Riddet, an attorney representing Nguyen, said he was disappointed in the indictment and questioned the length of the investigation.

"We're looking forward to a trial and expect him to be fully exonerated. He is not guilty," Riddet said. "I'm disappointed that this has come about after all this time. There's no merit at all to the allegation in the indictment."

During the campaign, Nguyen at first denied knowledge of the mailer - which was sent out under the masthead of an anti-illegal immigration group called California Coalition for Immigration Reform. He then said an overzealous campaign volunteer had engineered the mailer. That campaign volunteer was later hired back when Nguyen issued another explanation of the mailer arguing that the word "emigrado" had simply been mistranslated to "immigrant."

Nguyen said the intent of his mailer was to warn illegal immigrants to avoid voting, noting that such allegations had been made in the past against campaigns supportive of Sanchez.

However, the mailer also raised memories of a 1988 episode where uniformed guards were stationed by the GOP in areas with high Latino turnout to benefit the state Assembly campaign of Curt Pringle.

"It's something I take very seriously," said state Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana. "We lived through the poll guards in 1988. And in Orange County, there's been a history of suppressing voters."

Correa said he was happy to see federal action and saw an important lesson in the Nguyen affair.

"I'm hoping that politics and these elections come back to the basic core of democracy, informing voters instead of intimidating them."

State Assemblyman Jose Solorio - who lives in the 47th Congressional District and received one of Nguyen's letters - also supported the federal action.

One-time congressional candiate Tan Nguyen was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury Wednesday over a 2006 campaign mailer that was sent to Latino voters. H. Lorren Au, Orange County Register
<cutline_leadin>RAID: </cutline_leadin> In October 2006, members of the California Department of Justice confiscate computers in the Garden Grove Campaign office of Tan D. Nguyen. Congressional candidate Nguyen was suspected of sending a threatening letter to Latino voters. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
<cutline_leadin>LOOKING FOR CLUES: </cutline_leadin> In October 2006, members of the California Department of Justice confiscated computers in the Garden Grove Campaign office of Tan D. Nguyen. Congressional candidate Nguyen was suspected of sending a threatening letter to Latino voters. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
<cutline_leadin>SEARCHING: </cutline_leadin> In October 2006, members of the California Department of Justice confiscated computers and paperwork in the Garden Grove Campaign office of Tan D. Nguyen. Congressional candidate Nguyen was suspected of sending a threatening letter to Latino voters. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
<cutline_leadin>TWO YEARS AGO: </cutline_leadin> In October 2006, members of the California Department of Justice confiscated computers in the Garden Grove Campaign office of Tan D. Nguyen. Congressional candidate Nguyen was suspected of sending a threatening letter to Latino voters. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
<cutline_leadin>NGUYEN'S OFFICE RAIDED: </cutline_leadin> In October 2006, members of the California Department of Justice confiscate computers in the Garden Grove Campaign office of Tan D. Nguyen. Congressional candidate Nguyen was suspected of sending a threatening letter to Latino voters. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
<cutline_leadin>FACE-OFF: </cutline_leadin>In October, 2006, Jay Funsch, of Anaheim, faced off with Ernie Sgarlata, of Santa Ana, outside the campaign office of Tan D. Nguyen. Funsch came to cheer the raid on Nguyen's office and to promote his own political group which seeks to oust President Bush. Sgarlata went and got an American Flag to counter pro-immigration protesters carrying a Mexican flag. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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